But it’s funny, too, because Brennan’s assurances about waterboarding
would hold true even for the period when CIA was waterboarding
detainees. Because CIA officers didn’t do the waterboarding.

As a reminder, at least four detainees were known to be waterboarded
under the Gloves Come Off Memorandum of Notification. The first, Ibn
Sheikh al-Libi, was waterboarded by Egyptian intelligence, though with
Americans present.

The others were waterboarded as part of torture led by Mitchell and
Jessen, who were not CIA officers, but instead contractors. CIA officers
were definitely involved in that torture (as they were present for our
outsourced Egyptian torture). But the torture was technically done by
contractors.

Don’t get me wrong: CIA officers did engage in a whole lot of torture directly.

But Brennan’s squirmy language should only emphasize the fact that even when CIA was in the business of waterboarding,
CIA officers didn’t do the waterboarding. So Brennan’s guarantees that
CIA officers won’t do so in the future are pretty meaningless
guarantees.

Not a surprise. Brennan has been objectively pro-torture for over a decade.

The control of our state security apparatus has been ceded to people who aggressively pursue evil, self-destructive, and ineffective policies and programs.